Computer technology has entered many areas to simplify manual tasks and to make information more readily available. Many people use several computer-related products every day that greatly simplify their work day. In addition, through the use of a computer, vast amounts of information are readily available. Computer software and electronic information sources are typically found on storage media or storage devices such as hard drives, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, etc., on a local computer, on a local computer network or a global computer network, such as the Internet.
Computer programs can be used for many purposes including assisting a person in performing his or her job. For example, word processors help computer users prepare documents, spreadsheet programs help users perform accounting functions and numerical analysis, diagnostic programs assist users in diagnosing problems, etc. There are many programs available to help users with almost any need they may have. Computer programs often need some type of manual input to help a user, from simply starting the program to entering a significant amount of input.
Before a user can access relevant electronic information, he or she usually enters some input before helpful information becomes available. By way of example, many computer users, when looking for particular information, will use the World Wide Web (the “Web”) to find information. Typically users will begin their search for information by using a search engine on the Web. To perform a search, a user first enters one or more search terms. Typically, a user will then browse the results by clicking on various links and reading through the information found. After some manual browsing, the user often finds the relevant information. Finding and accessing electronic information from a CD-ROM or from a hard drive is similar in that some manual searching and browsing of data is generally required.
A machine-readable identification tag (hereinafter, “ID tag”) is a machine-readable data storage medium that is used to uniquely identify something, such as a product or a representation of a product (e.g., a picture of a product in a catalog). Examples of ID tags include machine-readable graphical codes (“graphical codes”), radio frequency identification tags (“RFID tags”), magnetic stripes, and so forth. Machine-readable ID tags may be placed on objects, printed on labels that can be affixed to objects, inserted into printable documents that contain representations of objects, and so forth. An ID tag reader is a device that “reads,” or obtains data from, an ID tag.
As mentioned, one type of ID tag is a graphical code. A graphical code is a graphical representation of information that consists of multiple graphical code elements having different light reflective or light emissive properties. Examples of different types of graphical codes include bar codes, data matrix codes, MaxiCodes, optical character recognition (“OCR”) text, and so forth. Graphical codes have become widely used in many commercial environments, such as point-of-sale stations in retail stores and supermarkets, inventory and document tracking, and the like.
In view of the foregoing, benefits may be realized if means were provided for establishing electronic communication between a machine-readable ID tag reader and a computing device.